Road Trippin'

... Not as bad as I'd feared

Grandpa hands out a set of special Mastoid Communicators to everyone in the group, tests them and puts them on the same Frequency.

The Plan:

Kincaid and Pierce are to dress as Raffen Shiv, take the RS Trike and enter the Outpost at Provo. They are to do nothing overt, just find the location of every single person that has been taken. Grandpa and the others will wait a few hours, then follow along. Once Grandpa and the others are close by, they will signal the two infiltrators of their presence with two mic squawks. Once contact has been made, a secondary plan will go into effect to enact the extraction.

What Actually Happened:

The two infiltrators drove into the base after a little hesitation and weren't glanced at twice. They parked the trike in the parking lot, finding the outpost was a 10 block spread within the city of Provo that was surrounded by junk walls, fortifying it a bit. They took several hours, looking around, keeping their helmets on and found out that the outpost housed roughly twenty of the Raffen Shiv, there was a large warehouse in the back of the compound where the lieutenant stayed that also housed their armory and right next to it was a double fenced area topped with razor wire for the slave pen. The inner most fenced in area housed most of the slaves, while the area between the two had twelve metal boxes with holes in them, three per side. Further inspection showed only two of the boxes were occupied, which might account for Tommy, the only person from the group taken that was missing from the yard. The raiders were in high spirits, celebrating their recent victory and new acquisitions. A party and orgy were underway as well as a feast of questionable origin.

Thinking quickly, Kincaid met up with Pierce and said, "Go relieve the guard at the slave pen"

Pierce tilted his head to the side a bit, considering the suggestion, "Go relieve the guard…?" his hand making a few stroking motions, seeming confused.

Pierce, fairly confident in his bartering skills, walked up to the guard, "So. Uh… I'm here to replace you so you can get some drinks and have fun" The guard narrowed his eyes and poked a finger into his chest, "Ya know, that's a good idea." He laughed and sauntered off, grabbing the closest drink and wench to hand.

After a while, Pierce went to go "check" on the prisoners, trying to discover which box held Tommy. Between the two, one had a non-moving occupant, the other had a moving one, but that box reeked of feces and some rot. He kneeled down, whispering, "Tommy, are you in there?"

"Ain't no Tommies in here, boy. Whaddya want? What more can you take from me, my other foot?" the mysterious box man said. He thought it over a moment, "Some information."

A wheedling tone came into the other man's voice, "And what do I get out of it?"

He gave a growl of frustration, "It can go much worse for you, if you don't talk"

The man in the box cackled, "Alright, alright… I'll tell you what's been going on lately, but you gotta get in close, so I can whisper it to ya…"

Pierce sensed something was amiss and started walking away, he heard something behind him and turned to look, seeing a stream of piss coming out of the hole he was supposed to listen through. He cursed at the box, heading back to his "post" and noticed Kincaid dragging a struggling Charisse out of the pen, saying he was, "Gonna get him some fun" Kincaid dragged her to a currently unoccupied shelter, and rifled through its contents, finding her some discarded armor and a helmet to wear, her abuse and time in the pen already made what limbs were exposed dirty enough to pass for one of the raiders.

"Alright, lil' girl. Follow my lead and you'll get out of here" he walked out, the two of them heading to the gate, relieving the guards there from their post who also were all too eager to be off duty.

The party had died down to just a few barely moving, talking people, leaving only five guards active in the entire camp, three of them being fakes. The last two were just outside the warehouse doors, sitting down, feet propped up on a spool table, drinking a bit and talking quietly. As Pierce and Kincaid waited, their earpieces squawked twice, followed by silence.

Kincaid broke the silence first, "Old man, you there?"

A gruff huff could be heard through the line, "Give me numbers and positions."

Several minutes later a plan was in place, wait for the last of the revelers to fall asleep, then Kincaid and Charisse were to open the main gate, letting in Cho-Fae and CeeKay. Grandpa was hidden under refuse a few blocks down with a view up the central path of the compound leading right to the warehouse doors. The two who entered quickly dressed in discarded armor, then CeeKay and Pierce walked up to the last two guards in a jovial manner, the guards didn't notice anything out of the ordinary with them and were taken completely by surprise when Pierce put a Spawnblade up under the guard on the right's chin while CeeKay split the other's skull in half with his monokatana. The guards slumped out of their chairs, causing a slight commotion within. Out stepped a large, cybered up man. The two tried hiding the bodies, but the man stepped out, glances to the side and grabbed a large caliber submachine gun, drawing it clear from his holster, then staggered as a hole appeared in his forehead, the glint of metal visible through the hole before the stumbled and fell. Startled, CeeKay and Pierce stabbed the body a few more times… to be sure.

They started quietly taking the slaves out of the pen, Pierce leaving the man he tried speaking to in the cage, getting everyone else out and down the side streets of the outpost. Kincaid started slitting throats of sleeping Raffen Shiv, not wanting to leave any alive. After the fifth one managed to let out a gurgling scream as he died, awakening several others nearby. Kincaid ran to the closest waking up in the street, knocking him out with a right cross. Both Kincaid and Cho-Fae noticed spears nearby, grabbed them and charged at each other as if enemies, then speared the other two raiders, but failed to kill them, both of them screaming horribly. One of the raiders heads disappeared in a spray of blood as Grandpa took the shot from down the street.

The screams woke up the rest of the groggy revelers. Cursing, Kincaid tossed a grenade into the orgy pit, killing and maiming another group of people, leaving a small, fast fight between the RV's protectors and disorganized, mostly naked raiders. Some of the raiders morale broke, and they ran towards the gate where Charisse had hidden by the fenceline. Cho-fae had given her some grenades as well, and she tossed one at the gate, counting a few breaths down before releasing it, catching the fleeing raiders in its blast. One last warrior stepped out, shouting a challenge to all who would hear him, "I CHALLENGEALLWHODARECROSSTHERAFFEN…" his words were cut off as Kincaid riddled his body with bullets from his rifle.

The remaining slaves took several of the parked trikes and fled as the group from the RV took their stolen gear, supplies and grabbed a ragtop HMMMV from the parking area, driving a long, circuitous route back to where the RV and semi were being worked on. When they finally reached it around mid-day, the front of the RV had been cut off with a plasma cutter and attached to the crumpled trailer's front section and welded in place, metal struts strengthening the connection. The rig was also in working order and several armor plates had been added to the RV, mostly around the sleeping area. Cid took one look at grandpa and swore, "You son of a bitch, I can't believe you pulled it off." He shook his head and handed over a crumpled wad of euros.

That... did not go as planned

The group settled in to await the inevitable attack of the Raffen Shiv, Grandpa having taken the trike they found and left to get a vehicle or some form of assistance. Thanatos and Sterling were both laid up in the RV, Sterling being badly injured and both of them having a strain of the virulent BioPlague, Gamous Absentious. Cho-Fae had settled into one of the recliners in the back of the RV to rest, his chest bandaged from his cracked ribs, his H&K 2025 resting on his lap. Kincaid and Pierce lay prone on the roof of the RV, keeping an eye north and south along the highway while Tommy took a position on the ridge above the RV with the Nomad Longrifle, surveying both directions. They had two trios of mines on the highway, getting into different positions to set up an ambush for the raiders when they came in. Sometime after dusk, a lone car, a beat up, off-road Bug came in from the south, hit the center mine and flipped multiple times before coming to a stop, sitting sideways along the highway, the driver crawled out in a hurry and hid behind a boulder while Tommy caught him in his sites, waiting to see if the new person would fire upon Kincaid as he approached the wreckage. Kincaid noticed him move behind the boulder and moved as well, keeping the boulder between them, trying to hop on onto it to have a superior vantage point over the driver. Kincaid's foot slipped and he fell back off the rock, the driver didn't notice, however, his ears still ringing from the explosion, an Anti-Dazzle option in his eye kept him from being blinded. Kincaid cursed quietly to himself, hopping back up, his thermal signature catching the eye of the crouched driver who reached up and flipped him off the rock onto his back as Kincaid reached for his handgun. Kincaid looks quickly over, saw his gun was just out of reach and went to kip up, intending to throw a blade behind him at the driver. The driver saw this too and kicked him across the face, knocking him out. Pierce saw this and started sprinting towards the pair as Tommy put a warning shot by the currently deaf driver who did, at least, notice the impact on the ravine wall by his head. He ducked down, dragging Kincaid's body over his and crouched behind the boulder for cover. Hearing the shot, Cho-Fae left the RV and went up the side of the ravine to hide near Tommy, to keep an eye out for any Raffen Shiv that might be trying to sneak up on the sniper from the sides. The driver waited a few seconds before propping Kincaid's unconcious body up, but luckily Pierce recognized him, shouting, "Don't shoot, he's one of ours" while still sprinting towards the boulder. The driver could now vaguely hear him over the ringing in his hears, and could make out when (Ryan) moved over, yelling out, "Freeze" while Tommy took a bead on him.

The driver had peeked from behind the body and was spooked by the large thermal presence down the road, past the RV, his eyes widening as he cursed loudly, ducking down. Tommy, saw the instant change in the driver's expression, deciding to glance back to the North, seeing a large convoy with a combat rig and many outriding vehicles in a loose clump barreling quietly down the highway at them. He snapped off a shot, praying to the digital gods for luck, the 15mm BMG round gliding easily through the windshield of the battlerig, taking the out the raider driving it right before it hit the first mine on the highway. As the old Peterbilt hit the mine, it jackknifed, cutting off some of the outriders, the trailer hitting another hidden mine, rolling and tossing its occupants free in a fiery explosion. An outrider near the cab of the semi went wide, but managed to hit the last of the mines in the road, flipping into a wide spray of charred and burning parts along the highway. Six Scorpion FAV's split up, going up on each side of the ravine, flanking the RV, Heavy machine gunners pointing their barrels at the derelict vehicle. Tommy snapped off a quick shot into the ammo can of one of the machine guns, trying to spark the ammunition and dove back off the ravine, rolling down towards the RV as three of the gunners opened up on him, striking him several times before he rolled to a stop by the door of the RV. By some miracle, none of the raiders on that side of the highway noticed Cho-Fae hiding in a nearby niche, several of the passengers getting out of their vehicles, one walking within two feet of him as they took up positions atop the ravine, pointing weapons down at the RV. During the commotion, the driver from the first explosion, a solo named CeeKay, dropped the nomad he'd been holding and ran, hiding behind the wreckage of his bug. Pierce quickly checked Kincaid, determining he was still alive, and the both he and CeeKay brokered a truce.

Back at the RV another vehicle pulled up, a massive, custom Harley Davidson Wargod, its rider a large, very obviously cybered up man in denim jeans and a black leather jacket with a sledgehammer over his back. "Well, well, well" he spoke, his voice booming over the area as he looked down at the RV. "It would seem we found the people who'd been killin' our boys. I gotta say, I like your spunk, but we can't stand for that shit." he pointed down at the RV, "I'll tell you what, you come out of that RV, hands up and no weapons, y'all might live to see the sunrise. If y'all don't…" he chuckled, taking a drag off of a cigarette.. "Well… things'll get very interesting. You've got until the count of five, then that RV will have more holes in it Bonnie and Clyde." He stopped to take another drag, "FIVE… FOUR…"

At this point Charisse comes out, tears streaking her face screaming, "Wait! Wait! I have injured inside, I can bring them out, but it might take a little more than five seconds, please!" Morgan, the leader of the Raffen Shiv nodded, "Alright darlin', I like cooperation and the look on your face. You have twenty seconds to get them the hell outta there, each second you're late is a bullet going into your friends." He grins at her as he runs back inside, getting Thanatos to help her carry Sterling outside.

Morgan has his men check them all, strip them down and stand behind them, a gun to the back of everyone's head as Morgan told them their new reality of life. "This one here" he booted Tommy's unconscious body, "he's got spirit. I like that, I like that a lot. He's going to be our bitch once he comes to." Someone had evidently called in for an additional vehicle, as several minutes later, an old, modified refer truck pulled up, with shackles lining its inner walls. Tommy, Sterling, Thanatos and Charisse were all locked up and driven away. The area remained quiet for several long minutes before Pierce and CeeKay started discussing a deal, disarming a trap they had left on the leaking Bug, just in case the raiders came down to investigate. Cho-Fae slid out of the hiding spot, body aching from stay still for so long in that awkward position and checked the RV, finding a few supplies had not been picked over or missed in the raider's search for supplies.

An hour later a large semi tow-truck stopped outside the range of where the mines had been laid, it's lights off and flashed it's headlights twice, waiting for confirmation. By this point, a sore Kincaid had woken up, so the four remaining people in the group went out, meeting up with Grandpa and the man behind the wheel, whom Grandpa had introduced as his good friend, Cid. Cid worked on towing the RV and the Semi out to a spot several miles off the road, out of sight while the others worked on a plan to rescue those who had been captured.

Was this a good idea?

Our ragtag group decided they had had enough of dealing with the Raffen Shiv on their trip through the MidWest. They asked around, finding hints at locations of an outpost and the central city the nomadic raiders called home and went to see about putting a stop to their raiding, pick up some gear along the way. After several days of travel, they ended up at a Truckstop, a very well armed and armored convoy was there, as well as a place where they could offload some of the gear they'd acquired…. Raffen Shiv gear, colorings and markings still on them, in their territory. They asked the local around where to find them, then threatened to nail a set of RS motocross armor to the Truck Stop's wall. They were given a free fill-up of CH002 in exchange for not angering the raiders, but unfortunately the tactic backfired, the nomads got forewarned and laid an ambush. The ambushers perished to the skill of the RV's defenders, but the RV has been disabled and is currently sitting in a ditch while the group tries to think about what to do next.